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Saturday, March 15, 2008

ALONG THE WAY

Still waiting on John on board `TUI` to catch up so we spent some time in Braunston and then decided to visit friends at Calcutt and that was when we had those couple of very windy days. The Wind generator really got a chance to show what it was made of and it wasn`t to long before the batteries were fully charged in fact i took advantage of all this free power and washed the boat curtains plus ironed them and within an hour the batteries were again fully charged. Normally the engine would have had to be running to cope with the power demand of both washer and iron but the wind genny coped very well.After a couple of days at Calcutt we decided to drop down through one lock to access the marina`s diesel pump as we had noticed the price at a very reasonable 56p a litre but when we went to fill up it had risen to 66p......such is life but compared to the litres i used in my van back in my other life i am happy that these days a litre of fuel gives me so much happiness cruising through England`s green and pleasant land instead of driving across factory estates.Talking of fuel it`s just been announced that the duty will rise approx 47p in November but Customs&Excise will allow boaters to pay a reduced tax on fuel used for heating and electric generation but the full duty on fuel used to move the boat. OK before anyone starts hitting the comments button remember on your fuel bills at home the tax if i remember correctly is 5% so it`s only fair that our heat/electric bills are not taxed at the VAT rate of 17.5% So be nice if you comment and as long as the comment is clean i will publish and answer. I say that because some comments have been not worthy of publishing and as i decide what you get to see i am able to spare you.What else along the way? Ah yes Keith&Jo on HADAR passed by and as there were no moorings nearby it was a quick hello but they did pop back later and over coffee we had a nice chat. I first met Jo last year at Stone and just managed a quick hello then so it was nice to meet Keith this time. Tried to get a picture of their newly built boat but my camera told me to change the batteries or it wasn`t playing the game. Visit the site it`s a lovely boat.Came across a boat Electro Fishing, they were removing Zander from the canal using an electrical current that stuns mainly larger fish that are netted and put in a tank to recover and all but the Zander are returned to the canal. It appears the Zander are eating to many of our native fish which is not on as they shouldn`t be here anyway even though they were introduced in the East Anglian drains some years ago. Just cruising away from a lock rounded the bend and there it was NO PROBLEMthe home of Sue&Vic. I first met them July 2005 when i was looking for a boat and had been a keen follower of their blog, click on it for a good read and then follow the links to other boaters blogs and you will see many styles of blog. We bloggers publish in so many formats some you`ll like some you won`t but that`s blogging folks. Since i`ve had the boat we have met up every now and then but it`s ALWAYS good to see these 2 lovely people. Well Sue i know i thanked you but i now do it publicly or should that be Bloggerly, that was a smashing dinner and a nice evening together with Chas/Anne from More2life see you on the road, be safe.

Seems to be more and more damaged bridges on the system and a lot of them still the same condition 2 years on.

This is Napton Jct. where the Gd. Union meets the Oxford and as you can see on the sign Braunston, Oxford or Warwick are your choices plus you could pass behind the sign into Wigrams Marina.

NB No Problem and as always Lucy posing on the towpath.

A lot of hedge laying is being down along the canals, the hedges are cut part way through andlaid over to form a neat hedge that will carry on growing. The pic above of the finishedproduct doesn`t show the full height as i snapped it to close up but perhaps the horse

gives an idea of height.

Sad to see an old working boat burnt out, i`m sure someone was at one time living on it.